Thursday 31 October 2013

Being Pretty

People constantly tell us to always look in the mirror and say 'you're beautiful'. But why? Sure, it's better than saying 'I look like a dying troll' or 'I'm as fat as a penguin who has eaten too much cake' but why focus on something as irreversible and as futile as your appearance? Why, when we look in the mirror, are we not encouraged to say 'you are so incredibly kind', or 'woah I even make myself laugh', or even 'fuck yeah, I aced that test because I'm as smart as Einstein'? Society is so super focused on that thin layer of skin and other various bits and knobs that are stuck to the outer layer of your body. All the stuff inside is what actually matters, if we get past the blood and guts of course. 

Appearance is prioritised over a fab and well-rounded personality that people actually strive to achieve. There's absolutely no use in striving to have a perfect face, because it's not going to happen, you are stuck with your face and all it's imperfections. But really. Who actually cares? What difference does it make if you have 50,000 freckles that you try to cover everyday with too much foundation that you do not rub in probably and you end up looking like a cake that I so desperately want to eat? What difference does it make if your nose is a little larger than average, at least you can combat any insults with 'all the better to smell you with, my dear'? What difference does it make if your hair is a knot of curls, many people work so hard and spend countless hours in front of a mirror with a curling iron to achieve what you so effortlessly wake up with? The sky is not going to fall on your face if you don't look like the airbrushed robots on the cover of Vogue, even if you want it to. You are going to have that face for the rest of your life, so you better get used to it, or you will waste your life enviously dreaming of a world where your teeth glitter in the sun and your hair falls in perfect golden locks down your ohso slim back. 

Not so long ago I was asked the dreaded question of 'who do you think is the ugliest girl in our year level?' My eye brows shot to the top of my head, panicking. Images and faces rushed to mind, sure I felt guilty, but it couldn't be helped. Yet I couldn't actually say any of these names aloud, if that person knew, it would crush them. And there was every chance that the person I would say, would eventually find out. If you wanted to know, I did say a name, but that was back in the days where my eyes were clouded with the superficiality of well, a teenage girl. But then I got thinking, why was this question asked? Why are questions like this ever asked? Why do we constantly and effortlessly, comment and judge someone on the way they look? If I turned around to the nearest human being and said 'gee your forehead is as big as a Blue Whale's tale', what would that actually change? For once in this whole post I'm actually going to answer my rhetorical question. Nothing. It would change absolutely nothing. Their forehead will be just as big the next day and the day after that and the day after that. Then why do we comment on things such as that? 

Pro's of Being 'Pretty':

  • ·      Boys will want to suck your face
  • ·      Creepy old men will want to suck your face
  • ·      Many envious girls will, most likely, want to suck your face
  •     You might get a taxi easier

     Cons of Being 'Pretty':
  • ·      People won’t see you for who you are (at first), so that guy that wanted to suck your face ^ he’s not interested in anything but your face, and your boobs and your arse and your vagina; he couldn’t care less about the potentially kind or intellectual things you could be bursting to say, I really hate to say it: but they’ll only want you for one thing.
  • ·      That creepy old man will try to rape you.
  • ·      Sure, you’ll get heaps of comments about how lovely your nose structure is and how badly wanted your forehead is but wouldn’t it be so much more satisfying if they complimented you on how utterly hilarious you are, or how lovely a person you are or how amazing your artwork is?
  • ·      Getting a taxi quicker will make you impatient and broke. Definitely broke. May as well get frustrated, call your dad, and force him to get out of bed at 2am and drive you home. *

    I still care about what I look like, so much, but I dress-up for myself, because I like to look the best that I can and I think that's where you draw the line. Why should I care so much about something that I was born with, something that is incredibly permanent, something that is entirely and fully me? Why should I care, let alone be judged, on something that I can’t change no matter how hard I wish I could? Why?
     
    *I can not be taken account for any frustrated father’s losing sleep at the fault of a call at 2am. 

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